A note on the Amazon ads: I've chosen to display current events titles in the Amazon box. Unfortunately, Amazon appears to promote a disproportionate number of angry-left books. I have no power over it at this time. Rest assured, I'm still a conservative.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

The new banner: Nearly two months ago, in what appears now to be a fit of pique, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman made a promise to his readers.

In the next few weeks, I'll explain why privatization will fatally undermine Social Security, and suggest steps to strengthen the program.

Well, as the graphic indicates, Krugman has suggested no real "steps to strengthen the program" in any subsequent column. Counting today's column, Krugman has written 15 pieces in the Times, but not one has contained the promised plan.

In an effort to harness the power of the blogosphere, I've created these banners, the horizontal one above and the vertical one on the right, for use by anyone on their blog or Web site. Bloggers may feel free to hotlink to the banners -- I will change the numbers automatically every Tuesday and Saturday until Krugman outlines anything resembling a plan. I'll pull down the banners even if all Krugman says is along the lines of: Double the payroll tax, increase the retirement age to 80 and charge a poll tax on Republicans.

Krugman has had a free ride for the past couple of months. He criticizes everything.

It must be difficult for Paul. No democratic idea to endorse(yet), and the pressure of his peers laughing at his ideas. Lot's of material on why Bush is wrong and how the crisis does not exist. He's stuck, like a naked mole rat in a sewer pipe.Solutions are simple, he just has to pick one:1.Raise retirement age2. Reduce benefits, or the rate at which benefits grow3. Increase revenue into the system, thru taxation as he believes that money will not be made from partial privatization

Basically he can continue to deny the problem-(why should an economist who'll be dead (or at least incontinent) have to speculate past his lifetime? Good thing he isn't as old as Greenspan)-or he'll have to say, "I have bad news for some of you..." If he can figure a way to tax Republicans alone, it will be his solution.

There is no solution that Krugman will endorse publicly. He's a pure demagogue right now.

1st paragraph: "Bush's effort to hustle the nation into dismantling Social Security...."

Last paragraph:"The important thing to remember is why the right wants privatization. The drive to create private accounts isn't about finding a way to strengthen Social Security; it's about finding a way to phase out a system that conservatives have always regarded as illegitimate."

And what is with the NYT increasing the size of the columnists photos?

Krugman has no real plan other than to raise taxes for the same amount of benefits at today's prices. He cannot state boldly on wanting tax increases because it will not appeal to anybody but liberals who want unlimited funding for whatever fills their fancy.

The Democrat plan is to prey on the ignorance of the elderly and anyone else that do not want change because they just don't like change. Heck, my parents do not understand that Social Security is basically a big pyramid scheme that will be unsustainable in the near future.

You deride dems for not presenting a competing plan (they have several), when in fact Bush has not presented a plan. When pressed to do so, he says things like, "I'm not going to debate myself" (that could be the one debate he wins), or "I've instructed Congress to be creative."

In other words, Bush has instructed Congress to come up with a plan he can claim ownership of.

This guy is just dem party line. He's the worst kind of partisan hack and he gets all those column inches in the NYT, the supposed paper of record?It's an insult to journalists who could be filling those inches with real contributions.